My very first impression is:

QuoteAdditional consultation provided by
Jeff Grubb, Kenneth Hite, Kevin Kulp, Robin Laws,
S. John Ross, the RPGPundit, Vincent Venturella, and Zak S.

No wonder 5E is hitting some great notes with me!  (And no, I'm not sucking up to Pundit - although he should receive kudoes for having a hand in this)

Kenneth Hite? That may explain the inclusion of horror rules in the DMG. That's a very good sign.

Quote from: Zeea;764153Kenneth Hite? That may explain the inclusion of horror rules in the DMG. That's a very good sign.

Yes ma'am.

Quote from: Obeeron;764144My very first impression is:

No wonder 5E is hitting some great notes with me!  (And no, I'm not sucking up to Pundit - although he should receive kudoes for having a hand in this)

Almost half those people are those I wouldn't buy a game from.

Quote from: JeremyR;764195Almost half those people are those I wouldn't buy a game from.

So? Especially given if half those people made a game most would buy it. You pick which half or combination because it bores me to explain the obvious.

Is it shameful that I don't know who half of them are?

Quote from: dragoner;764205Is it shameful that I don't know who half of them are?

Even better. The point is...who cares?

Quote from: dragoner;764205Is it shameful that I don't know who half of them are?

Hell no. I think the fact that I know of all but one of them is a sign that I spend too much time online.

What I really mean is, who the heck is Vincent Venturella?

Quote from: JamesV;764207Hell no. I think the fact that I know of all but one of them is a sign that I spend too much time online.

What I really mean is, who the heck is Vincent Venturella?

Good question, who is that? I spend too much time online as well, but I'm just a player of games I guess.

And imagine, if those other guys spend as much time writing/hyping this edition as Pundit. Shit, Wizards could drop their entire marketing budget.

And also, while I think it's well cool (and then some!) to be namedropped on the first page of the worlds biggest rpg, we should probably remember, that the real credit for this should be given to the designers, not the consultants.

I'm sure the consultants have had influence, stuff like ascribing "horror rules" to Ken Hite seems a bit off, to me at least.  The designers should get most of the accolades (if its good). And I'm pretty sure, that it will be the names from the first column of the first book that will be giving the 1.0 version their stamp of approval, not the consultants.

Quote from: DKChannelBoredom;764224And also, while I think it's well cool (and then some!) to be namedropped on the first page of the worlds biggest rpg, we should probably remember, that the real credit for this should be given to the designers, not the consultants.

I'm sure the consultants have had influence, stuff like ascribing "horror rules" to Ken Hite seems a bit off, to me at least.  The designers should get most of the accolades (if its good). And I'm pretty sure, that it will be the names from the first column of the first book that will be giving the 1.0 version their stamp of approval, not the consultants.

Definitely.

Quote from: DKChannelBoredom;764224And imagine, if those other guys spend as much time writing/hyping this edition as Pundit. Shit, Wizards could drop their entire marketing budget.

And also, while I think it's well cool (and then some!) to be namedropped on the first page of the worlds biggest rpg, we should probably remember, that the real credit for this should be given to the designers, not the consultants.

I'm sure the consultants have had influence, stuff like ascribing "horror rules" to Ken Hite seems a bit off, to me at least.  The designers should get most of the accolades (if its good). And I'm pretty sure, that it will be the names from the first column of the first book that will be giving the 1.0 version their stamp of approval, not the consultants.

Well, rather, I should say that horror rules in the DMG might explain Ken Hite's involvement. Or it might go both ways. In general, though, if Ken Hite is involved in a game, and there's any sort of horror element involved, you'd be crazy _not_ to get his input on things.

Getting Ken Hite to give input and not asking him about horror is like making a sports RPG and asking Michael Jordan to give his input on soccer.

Anyway, the names I recognize on that list are pretty good. I may not agree with Pundit and Zak on a lot of non-gaming issues, but they've both got good ideas when it comes to D&D.

I'm glad to see the consultants named in the credits. While the precise extent of their involvement may remain somewhat unclear, the omission of so much as their names from the credits would have been quite telling. That's not the case, so I'm glad for those who put in their work.

Quote from: Zeea;764153Kenneth Hite? That may explain the inclusion of horror rules in the DMG. That's a very good sign.

Yeah, if the tips on how to run a horror game come from Ken (or are at least influenced by Ken) that's a very good sign.

Since they seem to be into giving a bit of love to all the old settings with the Basic Rules (seriously, I think Birthright is the only major 2E setting that doesn't get a nod), I'd be very interested in a 5E Ravenloft that had the Hite mark on it...

Yep, I admit that I was pretty thrilled to see these names. I really like Hite's writings (been subscribed to "Ken Writes About Stuff" for two years now) and even though I'll probably never ever run anything in the GUMSHOE system (because of lack of players, not lack of interest) I dig Laws' involvement as well. Their material is full of great system-agnostic stuff that I mine for ideas.

Also glad that Zak is in there too. His blog (and of course mother-fracking VORNHEIM) are hella inspirational. Two of his blog posts (The Black Wing of Tiamat and The Red Hand of Tiamat) got me into the OSR movement in the first place.